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Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Corrupting the minds of our young

A friend recently posted a message to my blog “… BUT for your own sanity, I think you ought to get some rest and live and let live a little lest you too become a little neurotic yourself.” I appreciate his sentiment; after all, I have been poking fun at Nutball Christians quite a bit lately. Perhaps I should move on to other subjects for a while. Of course, that line of thought fades just as soon as I catch up on my news reading…

Doug Cowen, a high school biology teacher, wrote an oped piece for the Christian Science Monitor titled Teaching students to be 'competent jurors' on evolution I nearly gagged. Here is another Nutball Christian Fundie the introducing Intelligent Design concepts into our public schools; and he has the gall to boast about it. Should I live and let live as my friend suggests? Hell no!

Cowen writes:

Scientific theories have come and gone for centuries, replaced by better ones as new evidence arises. There has always been controversy in science and tremendous opposition to those who challenge the orthodoxy of the day.

This is called “teach the controversy”. Instead of teaching evolutionary theory, Cowen teaches the Intelligent Design party line which serves to introduce Christian creationist world views under the guise of science.

When I note that contrary to their large and monolithic biology textbook, some highly credentialed scientists insist that there are limitations to Darwin's theory, the students perk up.

This introduces the work of Intelligent Design operatives who are also men of science. The problem is, these ID Scientists and not pushing peer reviewed scientific theories, they are pushing the position of their religion which is masquerading as science. Our children or misled into thinking this is real science, when it is really a sham.

Skepticism for its own sake isn't the goal here, but it's important for students to realize that even respected scientists have peddled fraudulent evidence in defense of a pet scientific dogma.

Again, Cowen goes for teach the controversy. His position is that scientists have a position to protect and will do so even if it means telling a lie. Is this Science Mr. Cowen? It smells like pseudoscientific dogma to me.

The job of the scientist, I explain, is to find the best explanation to a problem, not just to defend his or her own position at all costs.

I thought a scientist was a person who uses observation, experimentation and theory to learn about a subject. A scientist rarely definitively answers a question; instead they contribute to a rich fabric of facts and observation in an effort to find answers. Teaching our children that scientist spend their time defending there precious theories is a gross mischaracterization.

One such student told me she appreciated my neutral approach. Her reason was simple: hearing the evidence for and against the theory gave her the freedom to weigh the evidences for herself.

There is no argument against Evolution, this is just plain stupid. Cowen is teaching his students something very damaging here, that a theory can be discredited simply by believing in something else, like Intelligent Design. This is irresponsible at best. Evolution can stand on its own merit. Legions of scientist around the world work every day to test and adjust Evolution. They work ceaselessly to add to our understanding of this complex model; Evolution is the only theory we have. Intelligent Design is simply discredited creationism, without the religious component, rehashed for release today. No scientists has tested Intelligent Design as scientific theory because it is not falsifiable, put simply. ID is not science.

Shame on you Doug Cowen, your smarmy "smarter than thou" editorial is proof of your questionable character. Are you proud that you lie to your students by teaching beyond the bounds of your mandate? Teaching Intelligent Design without calling it Intelligent Design is dishonest. Violating objectivity principles by telling students your personal religious views after teaching them about Intelligent Design is dishonest. How do you sleep at night? Oh wait, its God’s work – right? That must excuse everything, even deceit. Silly me.

Why do I keep posting on these nutballs? People like Doug Cowen scare the crap out of me. Their BS needs to be confronted, even if it is only on a personal rant on my blog.

1 comment:

Raquel
said...

Evolution has been discredited many many times. Watch a series called Answers in Gensis( the one with Ken Ham) and watch him disprove evolution with real hardcore science! I am a 14 year old student and I kow more truth than "scientists" who have studied the THEORY of evolution. That ideas of evolution are constantly changing because we keep disproving it with the bible! How could the only life in the universe just so happen to evolve on the only life sustaning planet there is? How could we (as in the earth) just so happen to be placed just in the right spot in the galaxy to observe the universe around us? By chance? Use common sense! Answer me this, is the earth beautiful? Of couse it is! Can a beautiful painting evolve? You wish, there has to be a creator/designer to create beauty. The big bang theory is also believed by many/most evolutionists. The big bang is similar to an atomic bomb. Has an atomic bomb ever put things into order? Such an explotion would destroy, not create!! Many scientist who devouted their whole lives to disprove the Bible became solid Christians! They could do nothing to disprove it!!